Pick up (someone by car)

Frank C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Pick up (someone by car)

The exercise gave two possibilities: passer prendre et venir chercher.  My dictionary adds aller chercher, which is what I chose.  Is this not a possibility? Is it a question of perspective in this case?  The speaker is the one being picked up, hence venir.  If the speaker was asking what time he should pick someone up, then perhaps aller is preferred over venir.

Asked 1 year ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Frank,

In this context, "aller chercher" would not work. Here, the person waiting is the one waiting to be picked up. So the person doing the "picking up" is coming towards us, not going to a third destination, therefore you need to use "venir" and not "aller".

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

aller chercher qqn -- to pick someone up.

I've frequently heard that used in either context: being picked up as well as being the picker-upper. ;)

Frank C. asked:

Pick up (someone by car)

The exercise gave two possibilities: passer prendre et venir chercher.  My dictionary adds aller chercher, which is what I chose.  Is this not a possibility? Is it a question of perspective in this case?  The speaker is the one being picked up, hence venir.  If the speaker was asking what time he should pick someone up, then perhaps aller is preferred over venir.

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